Money Laundering: The Volume of Currency Transaction Reports Filed Can
and Should Be Reduced
(Testimony, 03/15/94, GAO/T-GGD-94-113)
The Bank Secrecy Act requires banks and other financial institutions to
file a currency transaction report for each transaction involving more
than $10,000 in cash. The number of reports filed has been steadily
increasing--as of April 1993 nearly 50 million reports had been filed,
and this figure could double in the next three years. Although these
reports are extremely useful in detecting and prosecuting money
laundering, GAO concludes that the volume of filings could be
substantially reduced without jeopardizing law enforcement. In fact, the
large volume of reports has made analysis difficult, expensive, and
time-consuming. Many of the reports being filed are of routine business
transactions that could have been exempted from being reported. GAO
supports the provisions contained in S. 1664 that would encourage
greater use of exemptions for routine transactions with no law
enforcement value.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: T-GGD-94-113
TITLE: Money Laundering: The Volume of Currency Transaction
Reports Filed Can and Should Be Reduced
DATE: 03/15/94
SUBJECT: Money laundering
Reporting requirements
Law enforcement agencies
Data bases
Financial institutions
Intelligence gathering operations
Crimes or offenses
Financial disclosure reporting
White collar crime
Financial records
IDENTIFIER: Treasury Currency Transaction Report
Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
Treasury Enforcement Communications System
California
Florida
Illinois
Maryland
New York
Georgia
Nebraska
North Carolina
Utah
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